Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus
by DaiP
Summary: The Hogwarts motto isn't just for show, as Hermione finds out first hand, waking a sleeping dragon comes with its own...consequences. Of course, whether you welcome the consequences is a whole different matter. Dramione/AU(without all the darkness)/all other background details up to your preferences. Two-shot. Short and sweet.
1. Chapter 1

For Maggie, and her love for Dramione after all these years.

 _Wake the sleeping dragon a your own risk._

* * *

 _"Draco…come on…wake up…"_

The words tickled his ear and the strands of hair that draped over his brow. He lazily wondered if he should get a haircut as he was lured to the state of half-wakefulness by the voice.

 _"Draco…up…"_

It really was a lovely voice, to be able to lure him from that lively dream he'd been having. A dream he'd been having increasing frequency lately, a dream against which he was increasingly weakening against. A dream involving a certain frizzy haired witch…

The troublesome witch. The verbose, infuriating, know-it-all, troublesome witch. Always at him with that smart mouth of hers, pursed and pouty, like dewy petals begins to be…

" _Draco_ …"

Huh, maybe he was still dreaming. Those lips were in front of him right now, slightly pursed, but in no way diminishing their poutiness. So inviting. They parted slightly, revealing the even edges of a few white teeth.

Maybe he should finally stop resisting, and finally reach in for the taste he'd been trying to convince himself with increasing futility that he didn't want.

Tantalisingly, the lips moved.

"Draco…twat…up…"

The dream voice that came from those lips seemed sharper than usual. Draco blinked and leaned forward slightly, as if being reeled in by the voice.

" **MALFOY**!"

A solid pressure against the top of his head and the ensuing dull bounce of it against the desk beneath finally woke him rudely. He looked up to those lips, definitely pursed in annoyance now, and a pair of flashing brown eyes.

"What the bloody hell were you doing, Malfoy?!"

Draco rubbed his head where he had been smacked none too gently by the sizable textbook in Hermione's hand.

"I should be asking you that question, Granger! Have you upgraded to physical assault from your usual verbal form?"

"I only _assault_ those who deserve it!" Hermione replied more calmly.

"And besides, I didn't mean to, I just acted reflexively when you-"

Draco looked up, still holding his throbbing head, when Hermione stopped abruptly and didn't continue. Those lips were pursed tighter than usual, and accompanied by a most unusual shade of pink, currently blooming across her entire face.

Most unusual.

Draco's eyes narrowed imperceptibly, now fully awake. He'd seen her flushed with indignation when she campaigned passionately on behalf of house elves, flushed with excitement at the prospect of learning new spells in Charms, flushed with exertion cheering for Potter and Weasel at the interhouse Quidditch match. He'd been personally responsible for making flush with anger and annoyance, proudly, especially in the past months. As for why he chose to do so with increasing frequency, accompanied by a sense of anticipation and disappointment after she inevitably turned away after his provocations, he chose not to examine too closely.

He'd seen all those expressions and their matching shades of pink, almost familiar enough to be able to inventory them. But not this one. This…hesitant…eyes-darting…expression of…what was it?

His eyes caught her swallow. The smooth skin of throat stretching as it moved.

Hermione cleared her throat, as if ready to deliver her usual speech of how he was acting like a twat.

"You…you were...I…" Her voice sounded slightly tremulous, and stopped to clear her throat once more.

"You were acting daft. I've been trying to wake you up for ages but you wouldn't stir." Her voice gained its usual steady conviction as she spoke.

"I finally managed to get you to open your eyes and you-"

She stopped again abruptly. This time Draco was watching and saw the flush bloom on either side of her stubborn nose and spread to her ears.

She looked away.

Oh my.

Granger was embarrassed.

Draco marvelled at this new and rare expression, thinking the pink across her nose bridge especially fetching.

But why?

Before he could process the question, Hermione had snapped her head back.

"You forgot your book, you goose!"

She dropped the tome with which he'd been so violently assaulted on the desk.

The thud and her voice drew a few tuts and shushes form the others in the library. Hermione flushed again, this time grimacing at having been caught being noisy in the library.

Twice in one day, Granger was embarrassed. The unshakable, always prim Granger. What a treat this was.

"How did you know I was here?"

"I found Blaise and asked him."

"So you tracked down Blaise-just to ask where I was-just to give me my book-even though we have class together tomorrow morning-and there's no homework today."

Draco paused between each phrase, looking intently at Hermione's face.

She flushed again! Sod, she looked almost cute when she was embarrassed. Not that he thought that, Draco caught himself. Just, you know, probably that was what muggles and commoners thought passed as _cute_.

"I just thought since exams are soon, you might want to revise." Her voice held steady, the flush remained.

"Did you really?" Draco drawled, lounging back against the chair and beginning to enjoy himself.

"Yes! Why else? Don't think just because you got half a mark higher in that last exam that you can beat me again this time!"

"Oh, so this is about the competition, is it?"

"Exactly! What else? I can't let the only person who can provide me with a challenge in class to sleep away his evenings!" Hermione crossed her arms.

"Why Granger, I'd almost think you were trying to compliment if I didn't know any better."

"As if you need any more help getting a bigger head." Hermione rolled her eyes.

"My head isn't the only thing big about me." Draco sniggered, anticipating a quick retort for him not to be vulgar, or at least another eye roll.

Hermione's just subsided blush came back with a vengeance.

Draco was _really_ enjoying himself now. This was much more fun than making her angry and watching her stomp off.

Draco idly leafed through the textbook.

"Honestly, Granger, it really doesn't matter much either way to me who comes first in the next exam. Malfoys don't need to prove themselves in _simple_ charms at school to excel."

Draco looked up, "We succeed in everything we do. It's in our blood."

Hermione's darting eyes hardened at the phrase, suddenly chilling Draco.

"Blood. Of course, that's all it comes back down to, isn't it? I thought you'd grown up and out of these antiquated ideas." Hermione sneered.

Draco realised the mistake in his wording. Lord, why did he have to use the word 'blood'! It's not like his still held onto those ideas, or that he ever really truly believed in them. He was a child, he said so many stupid things, regurgitated so many toxic ideas fed to him!

"Wait, Granger—"

"No!" Hermione's eyes flashed. "You don't have to make yourself any clearer. I thought being partners all this time we'd put the past behind us, we'd become…" She blew out a frustrated breath, then laughed sharply.

"I thought we'd become schoolmates, if not… _friends_." She spat out the last word as if it was one of the more choice selections from a bag of Bertie's assorted flavor beans, flavor enhanced by ten thousand.

Draco's scalp tingled. First with shock that she was starting to see him as a friend, then with dread that he was about to lose the status he didn't know he wanted as soon as he'd found out.

"Granger, listen, that's not what I mean! I—"

Hermione had turned to leave.

Draco had never felt such a need to explain himself, forgetting that this was the library and students from every house and every year were gathered all around to study for upcoming exams, he leapt up, toppling the chair over and blocked Hermione's path.

He didn't touch her, although he so wanted to grab her by the face and make her look him in the eyes. But he knew that was asking for a smack, and after the one from her in third year he knew there was quite a punch packed behind her little hands. He also knew that grabbing her after the misunderstanding would make him look even more of a disrespectful fool, and he really couldn't afford that right now. All the bickering, all the teasing, all the nameless craving for _something_ from their exchanges came to this.

He wanted to be her friend. He wanted to keep teasing her, keep making her roll her eyes at him, then tell him to get on with their homework and scratch away at the parchment next to him for hours. He wanted to keep having conversations with her, the ones they have when they forget about their history and just talk like two people who enjoy each other's company, people who are friends.

And now he was about to lose all that if he didn't do something quick.

"Granger." He tried his best to pin Hermione with his eyes.

"What!" Hermione had stopped, still angry but surprised at how worried he looked standing in front of her. It was a rare slip of his usual carefully masked smirk.

Draco wasn't sure what he was going to say. He just wanted Hermione to not leave thinking him a terrible jerk, but now that she was stopping to listen, he really didn't have a script.

He wanted to smack himself now. All that bravado, all that pride in the Malfoy blood, well now was the time to prove himself!

"Hermione." He said her name, the first time in…the first time.

"I'm sorry. I was wrong to have been such as twat all those years. I was a child but that's no excuse, so I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that just now, you misunderstood me. But that's my fault, for having been so unbearable in the past. Don't leave angry. Don't…"

He swallowed hard, throat suddenly dry.

"Don't stop being my friend."

Hermione's eyes widened. Draco had to force himself to not look away from her.

The air was still between them. Draco realised how close they were standing from each other. He could see the individual shards of colour in Hermione's irises that he'd never noticed before, the uneven edges of freckled dotted across her nose.

A beat passed, then two.

The sharp sound of someone slow clapping cut the air between them.

"Well that was bloody entertaining, and I'm sure we all appreciated the show, but **PLEASE LET US STUDY IN SILENCE**!"

The reality of their surroundings suddenly came into sharp focus with the complaint from a fellow student.

Draco felt heat in his cheeks and ears, but soon forgot as he saw Hermione blushing harder than ever. Bloody hell, pink looked good on her.

He didn't regret anything he'd just said, the venue was a bit unfortunate but he had to explain everything immediately. Draco suddenly felt like he didn't know what to do with his hands, hanging useless on either side of his hips.

Hermione took a small step back, but didn't hold herself stiffly in anger like just a minute ago.

"Draco." She looked away briefly, worrying him that he was about to have his words thrown right back at him in rejection. Then she looked back, eyes clear and open. Tiny imperceptible wrinkles at the corner of her eyes and lips.

"I'll see you in class tomorrow."

Then she left the library.

Draco walked back to the chair he'd toppled over in his rush to stop Hermione. He righted it and collapsed back into the cushioned seat. He rested his brow in one hand, feeling like he'd just jumped off his broomstick after a particularly bumpy chase for the snitch.

"Malfoy."

He almost jumped at the voice so close to his ear. Damn Granger for rattling him so much.

It was the student who'd slow clapped them earlier.

"What?" Draco snapped impatiently. Now that he examined the student, he remembered the student was a Slytherin, they were on friendly terms and greeted each other occasionally.

"As touching as that speech was, you could've saved your breath by just kissing her initially, you know?"

"What the bloody hell are you talking about? How long have you been watching us anyway?"

The other student rolled his eyes and puffed out a breath, "who wants to watch you two with your usual fancy flirting? You two are just too obvious."

 _Usual_ flirting? What? _Obvious_? Draco shook his head, wait, that wasn't the focus.

"What do you mean kiss her initially?"

"She came over to wake you up, and you were leaning in to kiss her." The Slytherin stated matter-of-factly.

Draco felt like question marks were popping out of his head at this point.

"I woke up when she hit me with the book."

"That was after. She was trying to wake you up, you opened your eyes and started to lean in."

Draco's scalp tingled again.

The other student saw his expression of disbelief.

"Dude, you were leaning in, like, you were THIS close to kissing her." He brought his thumb and forefinger together, leaving only a smidgen of space between.

Draco continued to look dumbfounded. The other student shrugged. He picked up the textbook that had been swept onto the carpet by Draco's mad dash to stop Hermione earlier, dropping it into Draco's lap.

"Why do you think you got hit by the book in the first place?"

Draco sat there with the textbook in his lap as the other student walked away. He rang a hand across the cover and then touched the spot on his head where it had hit earlier.

Well.

He really should stop taking naps in the library.


	2. Chapter 2

For Maggie, for her patience.

Set a number of years after part 1.

 _Wake a sleeping dragon, pay the price._

* * *

Mmmmm…the smell of soap and ink and dry parchment wrapped around Draco like an airy embrace. An odd combination of scents to take comfort in, and yet, that was what made him feel both comfort and invigoration. Not relaxed, what a boring and utterly useless state of being that would be, but safe in the assurance that one was in the company of something intriguing, something full of potential, something that was his match and more, something that would make him… _more_.

The scents slid around him and teased his senses. Teasing him like its owner usually did. Unable to be captured and yet tangibly there, almost as real as if they had solidified into little pieces of feathery, furry specks of magic and were gently but insistently rubbing against his nose and chin.

Draco furrowed his brow slightly. There seemed to be something else to the scents now, a certain…feline-y profile, with it the impression of stinging pricks of sharp little claws.

He opened his eyes.

Yellow eyes met his blue ones.

Yellow and blue made green, the perfect colour for a Slytherin, and yet not the combination Draco was hoping to wake up to.

A muffled laugh sounded behind the yellow eyes. The pupils in these eyes dilated to a slit, then Crookshanks bade his goodbye with one last definitely purposeful grip of his claws into Draco's scalp before wriggling out of Hermione's arms and left for parts unknown.

"Malfoy."

Draco's eyes were immediately drawn to those dewy lips. He wasn't quite awake yet, although Crookshanks had really done his best…under the directions of a certain naughty witch. He blinked once, slowly, tried to focus on Hermione's face, but was drawn back to those lips again as she spoke.

"It's past nine-thirty, Malfoy." She said matter-of-factly, as if stating the time alone was sufficient in conveying the full set of meaning.

Draco blinked again. And again. Twice in succession as his mind cleared more of the sleepy fog.

He heard her, but still could only focus on Hermione's lips. Lips he'd been dreaming about before Crookshanks sank his sharp little claws in. Lips that now moved closer in front of his face.

Hermione put one knee on the bed to get closer to Draco, half her torso leaning over him. "Malfoy, you've been hinting at this surprise for weeks now, you said you'd tell me today!"

Draco watched as Hermione was almost on top of him in her eagerness to wake him and finally satisfy her curiosity. Ah, yes. The _surprise_. What he'd been working on for a while now, not just the weeks he'd told her about. He'd had to set her at a slight distance during this time, working to make the preparations that he knew she'd tell him she didn't need, but that he'd nonetheless do anything to achieve because he knew they'd make her happy, make her smile. That smile that starts with her lips but only bloomed from there to the rest of her face, lighting up that beautiful visage until it felt as if he could wrap himself up in it. And of course with that tantalising dash of pink across her cheeks. Almost the same shade of pink as those lips…

" **MALFOY!** "

Hermione gripped one side of his face and he eyes finally focused.

"It feels like I haven't seen you for ages…this surprise had better be worth it!"

Her eyes flashed briefly as she finished speaking, but it didn't mask the rare note of temperamental complaint in the beginning. Draco felt something squeeze inside of him at Hermione's show of emotion.

Hermione felt broad hands grip her waist and before she could process it, she had reversed positions with Draco and was now the one lying on the bed with him looming over her. Instead of just half his torso leaning over her though, he was very much caging her with his arms and legs on either side of her.

She turned pink. His favourite shade.

He let her have some of his weight and rested his forehead against hers, feeling very much like Crookshanks in that moment when the bloody creature had Hermione all to itself to curl up against on chilly evenings.

Her face was so close now that he could no longer see the shade of pink, but he felt it in the heat of her body as he rested against it, head to toes.

"Did you miss me?" He asked with just a hint of lilting tease.

He felt her open her mouth to deny it and call him a twat, but he wouldn't let her. Draco breathed lightly against the corner of her lips, almost a whisper.

"I missed you."

Hermione's breath caught for half a beat, and Draco swear he felt the heat from her rise.

Draco smiled against her cheek, and felt her struggling to move her head so she could look at him.

"Honestly, you are-just—the most-oh, annoying…frustrating-"

"Handsome, charming, Adonis of a man?"

Draco raise his head, but received a soft whack to the chest at his interjection.

He lowered his head again, this time to where Hermione's collar bone met her neck, and nipped lightly.

He felt another whack to his back, this time not so soft. He wanted to do something else to make her whack him again. And again. Maybe even harder.

Hermione's hair tickled his face, the familiar scent grounding him. She seemed to sense his playfulness subsiding temporarily, and laid a hand right on his head. Her fingers combed through his blond strands absently.

Merlin, Crookshanks really knew what he was going for.

"Draco. What have you been working yourself to the bones for these last few weeks?"

She usually called him Malfoy, just as he called her Granger. Even when it was just the two of them. Old habits die hard. But moments like these, it was Draco and Hermione.

Draco put a hand on top of the one on his head. Threading his fingers through hers and feeling the scratch of both their fingertips against his scalp, he told himself it wasn't actually his scalp tingling from nervousness.

"I've been spending time with…Potter and Weasley."

Hermione raised her head, "What?!" But didn't manage to move Draco an inch from the crook of her neck, and was forced to lay her head back down again.

"Whatever for? I don't need you to be best friends with those two, I've said a million times!"

"I'm not. I'm not trying to be best friends with them. But they're yours. Best friends I mean. I know you three have been through a lot, you spent the better part of your childhoods and teen years together, all those years, how can you not be."

Draco was rambling a little. He took a breath.

"I just…wanted them to…approve of me…you know?"

He felt Hermione chest vibrate a little with laughter.

" _Approve_ of you? Since when did the great Draco Malfoy require anyone else's approval for anything?"

"Since he met the great Hermione Granger."

Draco's breath and lips brushed Hermione's collar bone with every syllable, starting a mild itch that spread to her chest and the rest of her body with every heart beat.

He pushed his face further into her neck, and then suddenly pushed himself up, reached over her to the bedside draw, and took out a satin box the size of a pencil box.

Hermione sucked in an audible breath of air through her mouth.

"I know. I know, I know, I know. You said you don't think marriage means anything more than what two people can make of it between themselves, and all that fanfare and useless twaddle with weddings and invitations and-and flowers and-and I get it, I do, and I'm not trying to-to…to…" Draco's brows wrinkled in search of the illusive perfect words.

As serious as Draco seemed to be taking the situation, Hermione couldn't help but want to laugh at how flustered he appeared. She so wanted to reach over and smooth a few patches of hair that had stood up at right angles to his head and were shaking gently as he struggled with his words.

"I'm not trying to trap you, or cage you! I—you're one of the strongest witches I know, Merlin knows how I've managed to survive with you in my life these years, but here we are and here I am, utterly unable to imagine life without you!"

Draco run a hand through his hair, mussing up the already messy bed hair he was sporting.

"I just—I just—I…I wanted to…have something that was… _us_."

Draco seemed to droop a little, as if not quite happy with what he'd said, but not really able to express himself any better.

"You see this box, it's not a ring box, that's not for you, I don't want some metal ring to be some kind of mark of mine on you. I want you to have something that you can use, even if not all the time then at least something that'll be by your side and aid you in your work and your life. I nearly pulled my hair out trying to think of the perfect thing."

Draco opened the box. A single white gold quill lay in the soft cushion within. No engravings marked its shiny surface.

Hermione picked it up gingerly and held it as if poised to write.

Draco smiled at her curious handling of the quill and expression of appreciation after examining it closely.

"I have to thank Potter and Weasley for this. They gave me the idea of looking for something that you could use all the time, but not just any thing, it'll have to be something that you could use to be you, the Hermione Granger who's going to be one of the top witches in history, one who'll write all the spells and charms that future generations of Hogwarts students will be studying. Write it all with this quill…"

Draco smoothed a finger down the quill and gripped Hermione's hand.

"I want this quill to help you live your dreams as you work for them and achieve them. I want it to be part of your life and help you become all that you can be, like you've been in my life. It's not a ring, not a promise, just me, to you, _us_."

Hermione looked at both their hands gripped together around the quill. She rang a thumb across Draco's hand, feeling the softness of the skin. So soft for a man named after such as hard, scaly creature, a man who was once more a prickly thorn than a boy, a man whose eyes reflected a cold, metallic sheen but softened like mercury when they landed on her…

"Thank you, Draco. I love it."

Hermione reached out and pulled Draco's forehead down against hers.

"Those two must've given you a very hard time for helping you with this."

Draco laughed, the hexes he could've placed on those two prats for the hoops they made him jump through for taking their precious princess. Well she was his queen now!

"Thank you for accepting it. And thank you, for being you, for being here, for being with me."

Hermione performed an exaggerated shiver, "Malfoy, really! You are just saying things to get a reaction out of me now!" The merucry intensity in his eyes really giving her goosebumps when she looked up.

Draco pulled the quill out of her hand and carefully placed it back into its box.

"Am I? Well, I'll have to admit something then." Draco kept his eyes on Hermione as he placed the box back on the nightstand and came back to rest on top of her, placing both his arms on either side of her head.

"What time-delay hexes did you place on Harry and Ron?" Hermione asked wryly.

"Oh that's for me to know and them to find out. And please, let's never mention them again while we are in this position in bed."

Hermione laughed out loud at Draco's expression of undisguised disgust.

Draco's expression softened immediately at the laugh. Ah Merlin, that shade of pink again.

"I lied earlier."

Hermione stilled and looked up at him with wide eyes.

"Oh?"

"I said I didn't want to trap you or cage you." Draco gripped each one of her hands with one of his own and brought them up against the headboard.

"You did." Hermione let him.

"Well, I wasn't exactly being truthful."

"So you do want to keep me in your grips, like a dragon with its treasure?" Hermione raised a brow and slide a foot up Draco's leg.

"Why not? After all, you woke a sleeping dragon, now you'll have to pay the price."

Hermione didn't manage a retort. Her lips didn't let her. They were busy with something else.


End file.
